Local business owner owed thousands questions Oakwood University’s finances, among others

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Serious concerns are being raised about the financial situation at Oakwood University.

A group of more than 1,000 alumni, former faculty and staff are calling on university leadership to be more transparent. They want action on financial challenges they believe the university is facing.

The group, ‘Concerned Oakwoodites’, is planning to hold a news conference to call Oakwood Administration to account on Monday.

They truly believe the university is in a dire financial situation and point to widespread job openings on campus and even ethical questions.

Two instances were raised to WAFF 48 News to bring those financial questions into view.

At the bottom of every ‘Clean Supreme’ invoice, you’ll find in bold “Past Due.”

The owner of the cleaning business, Courtney Fitchard said Oakwood University was a regular customer since 2010 and the pandemic ramped up the need for her service with disinfecting dorm rooms and even cleaning the University President’s house.

”When they cut personnel, that’s when I began having problems getting paid,” Fitchard said.

Fitchard said for months, she has gone back and forth with the university over the outstanding bills. At the height, she was owed $25,000 but is now still owed $11,000 going back to a 2019 invoice.

“There are days that I had to go without pay and I had to pay my employees,” she said.

Fitchard said due to these delayed payments, she’s had to lay off staff.

”It really makes me feel bad because I looked at Oakwood University like a family and I was always there for them when they called me even when they had emergencies, I would come. The only thing I’ve ever asked them to do was to do right by me,” Fitchard said.

Eric Kelly and Dane Timpson also look at Oakwood as a family. In fact, Kelly’s father and Timpson’s father-in-law, T. Marshall Kelly, was the voice of Oakwood’s WJOU 90.1FM radio station for more than 40 years. They still get to hear encore presentations of their father on the online radio stream.

“We like to tune in particularly on the weekends, Saturday after church and dinner for us,” said Timpson.

Until they discovered it was shut down earlier this year.

One week we actually go to turn it on and it’s not there so we were wondering what was going on,” added Eric Kelly. “I was calling friends back in the Huntsville community trying to find out if the radio station was shut down. The friend said, ‘Well, no, we can hear it here in Huntsville.’.”

“The problem is that the internet feed had been shut down. Shutting down the radio stream was like shutting down our legacy,” Timpson said.

So they jumped into action, pulling together more than $5,500 to not only get the radio station back online but to pay the bill for a full year. WAFF 48 News reached out to Oakwood’s administration with several questions. Here’s the response received from the University’s Spokesperson:

The radio station has not been off the air at all this year, except for one day after a major storm and area-wide power outages. The online stream was down for a short time and has now been reestablished. We are working with donors to fund much-needed technology upgrades for the station.

On the issues of university hiring - critical staffing needs are currently being filled. The University is always examining its need for faculty and staff. The University is committed to providing competitive pay and benefits for faculty and staff.

We have spoken with the owner of Clean Supreme. A payment is being made to them. We apologize for the delay.

Like other institutions of higher education in the pandemic and post-pandemic era, we have faced many struggles. For the past 11 years, Oakwood University has performed fiscally strong. This year, the school is facing financial challenges. Financial controls are being put in place. As we complete our financial review, including an independent audit, we will share more information.

We are announcing that Oakwood University will host an International Town Hall Meeting to be held online, inviting everyone in the OU Community. Additionally, OU will travel around the country, hosting a series of in-person events entitled Oakwood Conversations. More details to follow.

Earlier this week, WAFF 48 News highlighted a legal fallout from last year’s ransomware attack on Oakwood that led to a major data breach, a class action lawsuit from a student and Oakwood now suing it’s former IT company. The lawsuits are still pending.

WAFF 48 News plans to attend Monday’s news conference at 11 a.m. It will be in the gymnasium of St. Luke Christian Church, 1800 Sparkman Dr. NW, in Huntsville.

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